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House of Kalākaua

The House of Kalākaua, or Kalākaua Dynasty, also known as the Keawe-a-Heulu line,[1] was the reigning family of the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi between the assumption of King David Kalākaua to the throne in 1874 and the overthrow of Queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893. Liliʻuokalani died in 1917, leaving only cousins as heirs. The House of Kalākaua was descended from chiefs on the islands of Hawaiʻi and Kauaʻi, and ascended to the royal throne by election when the males of the House of Kamehameha died out. The torch that burns at midday symbolizes the dynasty, based on the sacred kapu Kalākaua's ancestor High Chief Iwikauikaua.

At the time of Kamehameha V's death in 1872 the male line of Kamehameha had become extinct leaving Lunalilo and Kalākaua the only male relatives of the Kamehameha Dynasty. Lunalilo who had higher blood was victorious in the 1873 election. But by 1874 after Lunalilo's death Kalākaua was the closest male relative to Kamehameha, since the only remaining Kamehamehas were Ruth Keʻelikōlani and Bernice Pauahi Bishop and the only remaining descendants of Kamehameha's brothers Emma Rooke, Elizabeth Kekaʻaniau and Theresa Owana Laʻanui were all female.

With the deposition of queen Liliʻuokalani in 1893 the House of Kalākaua ceased to reign, and the death of the Princess Victoria Kaʻiulani in 1899 meant the loss of the last direct heir of the siblings of the reigning monarchs of House of Kalākaua. The main line of the dynasty thus ended when the deposed Queen Liliʻuokalani (who had abdicated and renounced) died in 1917. Their cousins came to be known as the House of Kawānanakoa, a branch of the House of Kalākaua, since they are relatives and appointed heirs of King Kalākaua, descended from the royal heir Prince David Kawānanakoa, eldest son of the princess Kūhiō Kinoike Kekaulike, who had died in 1908. The House of Kawānanakoa survives to modern times and at least two of its members have claims to the throne should the Hawaiian monarchy be revived.